Is it over yet?

X'mas is certainly over and done with. But the X'mas tree remains in the corner of our living room - untouched. Of course, the kid and presents not included.

We are still hoping for a special vaccum to compact the humongous tree into a tiny tupperware and store it until next X'mas.

Just the other day, we saw a shrink-wrapped X'mas tree at a jewellery outlet, ready to be packed into storage. Now, who said we were the only lazy ones?

Celebrated the New Year's eve at the Marina Float with my usual gang. This is the 5th consecutive year that we do this together - Dinner and then countdown with the Fireworks. I must admit that the mini concert at the Float was flat boring. I wished we could have done more with hanging around a cafe, sipping on a nice glass of champange and yabbering away. Besides, we hardly get to have hearty chats nowadays. Nonetheless, the company was great. And I'm still hoping for a new companion in the group for Jayden. Perhaps this year? :)

Fast forward to 2nd Jan. We met Celeste & family for the ritual new year dinner. This time, it's our 4th new year spent together. Dylan was raving alot on the seafood & oysters he heard and very much wanted to try out. And so, we conned the other unknowing family to Conrad's Oscars and had a great time feasting. You have no idea how much fat burning exercises Celeste and I sweated just to attend this food binging 'event'. No photos available as I'm still waiting for the retun of my SD card. Yoohoo? Cel, you hear me?

Again, 2009 whizzed passed by like a breeze. One moment, I was reminiscing on the birth of my son, the next moment, I am worrying about Jayden adapting to his new pre school. And not to mention planning the next house shift cautiously as that would determine his elementary school in future! How scary can Parenthood gets?!

** NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS **

Two weeks into 2010 and I didn't even had the time to blog about my new year resolutions! I traced back how we spent the last days of 2008 and what my 2009 resolutions were. And surprisingly, I didn't set any goals for myself in 2009. It was just purely time spent with good friends, family and reflection on how much my boy has grown in a year. :)

A walk-thru on what was done in 2009... ...

Jan - Staycation at The Amara Sentosa with Dylan & Jayden

Feb - CNY, Daddy's birthday & Jayden started his 1st class at Grace Kids

Mar - Jayden managed to sleep independantly in his own room

Apr - Jayden contracted chicken pox at 18 months

May - Trip to Hokkaido Japan, also the time when Jayden refuses to sleep on his own again

Jun - Rested the whole month and did NOTHING

Jul - Mummy's birthday! Attended a Jakarta wedding

Aug - Jayden goes to the Zoo

Sep - Jayden starts going to playgroup

Oct - Jayden turns terrible two! Birthday retreat to Club Med, Bintan

Nov - Group trip to Phuket with the gang (Bon, Adrian, Bryan), bought my 2nd bag - Miu Miu

Dec - X'mas gathering with our friends and counting down to the next year

So what will be my 2010 resolutions?

1. 1 long holiday, probably USA or Japan & 1 short holiday, hopefully to bring Jayden along to Hong Kong
2. Be more patient to Jayden
3. Celebrating my 30th birthday overseas with my gfs
4. Going diving again
5. Getting my dream bag - Chanel 2.55 Classic Jumbo (when can I own you!)
6. Staying healthy - swimming and hitting the gym every week
7. Going health screenings yearly - have to plan one for Dylan soon
8. Start saving to plan for house shifting in 2 years time
9. Stay on my current job at least for > 2 years (I job hop every 2 years)
10. Further studies to enhance my portfolio and of course better pay to fulfil Pt 8
11. 10 resolutions are hard enough to keep so that's enough

And lastly, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

His funny words

Mummy: "Jayden, whenever you sneeze, you need to say Excuse Me"

**ahhh choo**

Mummy: "So what must you say?"

Jayden: "Excuse me. Order juice & french fries please?"

Mummy: "?!?!?"

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Mummy: "Jayden, what is Mummy's name?"

Jayden: "Em-mer-tee!" (MRT) -_-

Mummy: "NOOO! It's Emily. Now what is daddy's name?"

Jayden: "Dee-NAR!" (Dinner)

Mummy: *fainted*

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Jayden sings a song he learnt from school.

Jayden: "Good morning, nice to see your money face"

Mummy: "Jayden, are you sure it's money face?"

Finally heard the song one day and it's actually SMILEY face.

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Jayden plays with the balcony sliding door.

Jayden: "Mummy, come sit here"

Mummy: "Why Jayden?" Proceeded to sit down.

Jayden: "Ding dong. Trains door closing. Tu tu tu tu...."

Mummy: "?!?!? Where are we going?"

Jayden: "Next stop. Ang Mo Kio."

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It just gets funnier talking to the kid these days. :)

Another bad start of the year

It puzzles me how one can lose his cool to the extend of being possessed, or rather, in my opinion, having anger manipulate your mind and inflicting hurt to your loved ones.

Last night, the son was throwing his usual tantrums during bathtime and insisted on having his watergun - his new X'mas gift from grandma. I have no idea what went utterly wrong in the bathroom.

The father literally went ballistic and threw the watergun, smashing it on the floor. My heart broke in pieces and I'm almost certain it broke the son's heart too. Jayden couldn't stop crying and weeped "Daddy broke the gun. Spoil." My heart weeped as well.

Like an enraged mother, I questioned the cause of his actions only to be rebuked with a malicious answer "Shut Up."

Baffled, Shocked, Dumb-folded.

Jayden crept up to me in bed after his bath and asked innocently "Daddy spoil the gun". He did not whine or make a big fuss. My heart weepd again. "Mummy will buy you a new one tomorrow". Jayden smiled and rolled over to sleep.

I lay awake the entire night trying to trace back the incident, searching for reasons or answers for the cause of his violent reaction. I could not find anything to justify the rights to inflict such a painful memory to my precious son and myself.

I am only thankful Jayden is still young to remember such a traumatizing incident.

Went to bed, with a heavy heart and a pillow wet with tears.

Enough is enough.

I no longer have the energy nor the interest to know what went wrong.

I do not know what is going to happen in the future. But I'm fairly certain that it will never be the same again.

The month of merry making...

DECEMBER - The month that arbitarily denotes that you should keep your weighing scale under your bed. Because dieting just doesn't make sense in the month of feast-ive season.

It also happens to be the month where parents - like frantic fans go around the island malls to fulfil your kid's dream of seeing their favourite TV cartoon character LIVE.

And so to avoid the frenzied crowd, we specifically took Jayden to watch Barney & Friends at United Square on a weekday. It really doesn't help when we have parents who think alike as well. -_-

19 Dec 09 - X'mas Gathering at The Yip's Abode

It started off with the casual idea of having a simple X'mas gathering like last year. But I was glad that there was a spontaneous member - Rachel, who decided to make X'mas even more memorable. So instead of just dinner and gift exchanges, there were also X'mas hats & bands and a neat red & black dress code.

The almost perfect red & black photo if not for an unassuming family who didn't read the theme. :p

I'm almost certain that Jayden loves X'mas - which meant log cakes, presents and lots of nice yummy food.

Hopefully, we can continue with this next year. Anybody want to volunteer their house? :)

24 Dec 09 - X'mas Eve

Instead of hitting down town and getting yourself stuck in the human jam, we decided to have a quiet X'mas eve at the comforts of our home. Bon and her partner came over and we had a simple X'mas feast.

Stuffed chicken from Hans
Black pepper bacon from Carrefour
Xmas cake from Conrad
The company of your friends & family on a quiet X'mas night. :)

25 Dec 09 - X'mas morning

Jayden, or rather the parents, couldn't wait until boxing day to open the presents. The X'mas tree was literally brimmed with presents for the son. All thanks to Mummy & Daddy's friends who doted on him.

The most favourite gift for the moment is the Thomas & Friends book collection from Auntie Celeste. It has now become his everyday bed-time stories. :)

This X'mas, I think Dylan and myself must have had a strong affiliation with bath works and chocolates & candies. I am now smelling of lavendar everyday.

Merry X'mas Everyone!

A very belated gift

When Liv asked what Jayden wanted for his 2nd birthday, I was stumped. Not that the boy has all the toys in the world - it's just that we didn't want another bulky plaything lying around the house.

And so the autocratic mummy pondered on other options - Enrichment, dancing, art and even swimming classes. We attended a trial at Gymboree Music. And I must say it was DREADFULLY BORING. The teacher failed to even get Jayden to dance. The long waiting list on the swimming classes was enough to turn me off.

So after much procrastination, I finally decided to bring the son to the Thomas the Train show - after witnessing how much he enjoyed himself at the Hi-5 Musical.

I requested for only Mummy and son tickets but who knows Liv surprised us by coming along as well! "Just to spend some bonding time with Jayden", she said. :)

Before the show starts

I was a little apprehensive on the show due to the last time we watched the free performance at Marina Square - Thomas was literally stationary all the time. How can a live show be anything interesting when nothing is moving?! It needs to be dynamic!

And we, together with Jayden, were pleasantly surprised at how comprehensive the props were. Definitely every dollar well spent! :)

Although Jayden loves Thomas the Train, I must shamelessly admit that I couldn't recognize any of the other characters (except very obvious Thomas) until that night! So very unglam.

Thomas & the crew

And there we have Jayden with his very exorbitant Thomas light spinner. We realized that Singaporean parents are willing to splurge on their kids. The poorly crafted toy costs 20 bucks and it was sold out before the show started.

Thanks Liv for the wonderful birthday treat! :)

How much was it again?!

Cookie Flavour - The Apple of My Eye

It used to be branded bags, clothes and accessories. Nowadays, cookies can be considered a luxurious gift as well.

The husband wanted to get something 'unique' for his clients this year. From Harrods to L'occitane to C&E - I have exhausted all ideas until someone recommended The Cookie Museum.

On first look at the place, it was delectably decorated in Victorian settings and a wide array of cookies, chocolates and cakes to choose from. Flavours unheard of - Chicken rice, laksa, nasi lemak. Not something I would have fancied for a sweet tooth.

And then I teased the husband to get a tin for me. I usually only eat chocolate chip cookies but these cookies were different. They were, as the sales assistant proudly mentioned, 99% FAT FREE. And of course, with the premium of being fat free, comes the very fat price tag as well.

"Please take your time to eat them" - the husband warned. The cookies burned a $45 hole in his pocket.

A little bit of something going on...

Not that we had alot of activities going on but blogging seemed to have taken the back seat when the year approaches to the end.

Just last Nov, we went to the zoo *AGAIN*. But this time with Dewi & family. Jayden simply loves animal watching and so we had to make the parental sacrifice.

Jayden has also started to accept Chloe whom he used to refuse saying hello to much less holding hands now!

And after much encouragement from Celeste, I decided to start baking again. I don't recall scoring badly in my Home Economics classes. Or it could be that I needed more practise now.

We woke up pretty early and brought the ingredients, tools and a very hungry stomach to Celeste's place and started baking.

I made a horrible mistake by putting ONE TABLESPOON of pandan paste when the recipe said one TEASPOON. *smack forehead*

And so my pandan chiffon batter looked like incredible hunk.

Celeste was nice to help me mix the ingredients. Noticed the 'surgery' hands in the photos. She didn't want to get her medicure scratched. Hehehe...

Because I halved all the ingredients thinking I could make 2 chiffon cakes instead of 1. It turned out like a donut - a very hard one too.

So for my first try, it was A FLOP. :(

Being very thoughtful (and perhaps have predicted my failure), Celeste prepared a set of ingredients beforehand and we made a coffee chiffon instead. "Must bring home something mah..." she said. And it did taste very yummy. :)

LC, if you're reading this, please don't laugh at me. :p

And we finally, or rather I, got the Xmas tree up at our place. Both father and son agreed to helped me put up the tree. In the end, Jayden only put up the star while Dylan put up one of the ornaments - it does not count ok! Our 3rd Xmas with the son this year. :)

I simply love the time of this year. Everything is so warm and fuzzy - time for celebrations, reminiscing and also getting fat!